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[ The drink really is delicious. Hopefully that would show in the way her face lights up upon drinking it. By now, Tifa would probably know her tastes and preferences, after all. Susato watches as Tifa washes the tumblr, then glances to meet her eyes when she speaks again.

Rather than surprise, Susato looks kind of relieved (that she no longer has to pretend not to know). A giggle.

Finally. ]

Ah. Well, I certainly won't insult you by pretending I don't. I saw Eustace's dream. [ There is a bit of a shudder. Only happy thoughts now, Susato. No dead Tifa. ] Forgive me, but after I confirmed that he actually asked, I already offered him my congratulations.

I figured as much.

[But Tifa looks far from upset about it, even if it wasn't the way she would have liked Susato to find out... but it is what it is and she'd rather not dwell on those memories if she can help it.

Instead, she mirrors Susato's relief with her own at finally being able to get it off her chest and tell the people she cares about most in this world, although there is still a bit of a nervous buzz around her, even now.]

He gave me this when he did... this dog tag of his. [She laughs quietly.] Funny timing, because I had gotten him something too.

[The little glass moon clinks gently against the metal, and she turns it over so that they both rest in her palm.]

[ Susato admires the dog tag and the attached charms with a fond smile. There's a brief sound of ice clinking against glass as she takes another sip, listening to Tifa speaking so earnestly. ]

I saw the way you held it at the beach. [ Was that a tease? ] But what did you get him?

[ Curiously, she leans in for the answer. She wonders if Tifa knows that he still has a ring in the works as well, but if not, she won't be the one to ruin that particular surprise. ]

[Her fingers take the moon carefully in between them, holding it delicately like the glass that it is. It glows and sparkles, leaving behind a soft yellow light on their faces as Tifa also leans in a little closer so she can offer Susato a better look.]

I gave him a matching one like mine. A star, actually.

[Beneath its glow, Tifa's smile warms.]

I know it's silly, but... the jeweler said that if you imbue these with your love, they'll protect your loved one from harm. [Embarrassed, she laughs.] Probably just some little thing he told me to get me to buy it, but... I thought they were pretty.

[ Susato catches its faint glow, and a smile begins to warm on her face as well, because that's exactly the kind of romantic story that girls like them fall for. One might even say the jeweler had rehearsed such a thing.

Regardless, ]

They are gorgeous. It's not silly. [ What else can she say? She can't help but feel a sense of deja vu as well. She reaches at something hanging from her own neck, but it's hidden beneath her kimono. ] When Mr 76 was hurt a few months ago, I... I gave him something similar, actually. But it was something I made myself. A charm...

[ Speaking of deja vu, Susato trails off slightly. She's fairly certain she mentioned this in the context of Gina and Toby. Stop her if you've heard this one? ]

[Deja vu indeed. There's that flicker of recognition on Tifa's face, and she perks up slightly when she remembers the conversation they had on the shore of the beach that day, and there's a blanket of warmth that ripples over them, a happy, nostalgic sort of feeling that's just tangible enough that they can both feel it.]

Oh! You mentioned those before.

[Back then, she hadn't thought too much of it, but now... They really are very similar, aren't they? Which begs the question—]

Do you think... in a place like this, something like these could actually work?

[ There is a distant look on Susato's face for a moment, like she is thinking about it. It's still not her place to go into the details about what happened, but 76 and Kazuma were both absent from the Harvest at the same time, for at least a couple weeks. In the end, Susato gives a nod, and an easy, nostalgic smile. ]

I think they do. I gave one to Kazuma as well, you see. He once told me that... that he could feel my presence. Though in the end, I still can't be sure what that did for him.

[ He still got hurt. There's a pause. ]

...Um, would you like to see what they look like?

[Tifa tips her head a touch, curious about that sudden shift in Susato's expression, but she doesn't question it, and instead waits with a patient smile.

She thinks that whatever that charm did for Kazuma in the end, knowing that Susato was always going to be nearby would have been enough for him. She's at least confident in that much, and she hopes that Eustace would feel the same if it ever came down to it.

Her face does light up at her question.]

Yeah! Let's see them.

[ Well... in truth, Tifa would have to ask Kazuma, or 76. Even Gina. But Susato can at least give her the general idea behind it. Susato's hand slips beneath the fold of her kimono, and she pulls out a small rose-shaped bottle that fits into the palm of her hand. She dangles it from its chain, and it shines a pale pink, but it might be difficult to tell with the rainbow of origami cranes stuffed within, and the green goose feathers she added, meant to represent "leaves."

...... ]

It's... Well...

Have you ever heard what they say about the crane?

[Tifa leans over the counter to get a closer look, her fingers reaching out for the little bottle but she never quite touches it. The low, dim lights of the bar catch the pale pink tint of it, and cast a warm glow over the little paper cranes inside, and after a moment of examining it with a soft look in her eyes, she glances up at Susato with a gentle shake of her head.]

No, I haven't. Are they good luck?

[ Susato opens her mouth, likely to say something like "Not quite," but you can practically see the exact moment she stops herself. Are they...? ]

Hm. To be honest, I haven't really thought about their luck. But.... in Japanese culture, it's said that the crane lives for a thousand years. If you're able to make one for each year of its life, you're supposed to be granted a wish.

At the time, mine was for Mr 76 to have a swift recovery. Now my hope is that they'll always be protected.

[ Someway. Somehow.

Wherever they are. ]

[ She pauses, allowing Tifa to take in the explanation, and then there is a soft laugh. ]

Of course, these don't hold anywhere near one thousand. But at least this way, they can carry it with them.

[There's a warm flutter in the air, a buzz that might make Susato's drink taste a touch sweeter the next time she sips it, and that will rustle the leaves of the plants and the branches that sit nearby. She shares the same wish, not just for Eustace, but for all of the others she's come to know and cherish here, and as she looks at the cranes inside the little bottle, she repeats that wish to herself again.]

It might not hold a thousand cranes, but in this case...

[She leans on her elbows again.]

I think maybe the cranes hold more than you think. [She thinks of the little moon hanging around her own neck.] Feels like anything can hold onto what you want, if you wish for it hard enough.

[ Susato does take another sip, and by the looks of it, she does notice a subtle change in flavor. For now though, she thinks she's just imagining it. She leans forward slightly, closer to Tifa. ]

Hehe. Well, I have seen them at work. It appears they are used up somehow. When the magic activates... they burn, until there are no more. So now I keep a large jar of them in my room, just in case.

[ No one's ever really overtly asked for a refill, though. She refilled Kazuma's, once.

...Anyway. ]

Come to think of it, that would be... [ a good wedding gift? she thinks, but she stops herself short of saying it. ] Hm. What kind of bottle shape would you like best, Tifa? If I were to make you one...

Hypothetically...

Oh...

[Tifa's eyes go round, and she lifts her head from her hand a little to look across the bar at Susato, the flush in her cheeks evident.]

You'd really...?

[Of course she would. Susato is, without a doubt, one of the sweetest people she's had the pleasure of meeting in Reverein. So, she'll humour the idea, and she would never say no if she were to make her one.]

Hypothetically... Something like... [There's a pause, and her eyes flit across Susato's face.] Like a little flower.

[ Of course she would. Susato glances at her own rose-shaped bottle before she tucks it back in her kimono. It hadn't been a gift; she made it for herself on a whim, but she still keeps it close to her heart.

Tifa has good taste. ]

A flower! Perhaps I can find one shaped like a lily.

...Hm, although you are marrying Eustace, not Aerith. [ Maybe Eustace's can be a dog bone or some such. ]

[It's cute and amusing that Susato's mind immediately goes to Aerith when she brings up the flower when in reality, the idea had sprung because she herself reminds Tifa of a spring blossom—the first one that blooms at the change of seasons, when there's still snow left over on the ground, but the sun grows warmer by the day.

She doesn't say as much—not yet—and instead, she wears a warm smile.]

The lilies... You know, they do kind of remind me of Aerith.

[They were from her garden back in Midgar, after all.]

You know about that?

[ A garden... or a church. They're not really the same, but either way, it's all Susato has to go on, for now. She gives Tifa a small nod as she takes another sip between breaths. ]

When we met, I saw them. It was a church... I don't remember what it said, but it was on one of the petals that fell from that awful tree. Aerith caught it...

She told me that lovers would gift them to each other when they reunite.

[Tifa nods, immediately recalling those words in the book she'd read when curiosity struck her. Cloud had given her that very same flower that night he returned from the Sector One bombing mission, and she remembers how happy it had made her, and how she went to find out the meaning of that flower the moment she could. For Tifa, it wasn't only Aerith that those stargazer lilies reminded her of...

But of a reunion that she never thought would ever come, and of another man in another world, and another life. He may be far away, and she may have found a new love to cherish here, but that never meant Cloud was gone. He still held that place in her heart—that place born from the wishes of a young girl who fell in love with a young boy under the stars—and always will.

In this world and this life, though... things are a little different and rather than a yellow lily, a blue star flower blooms nearby, the blue glow of its petals drawing Tifa's attention briefly, and she smiles.]

They mean "reunion"... [She offers with a gentle look.] An old friend of mine gave me one when we met again, after seven years. Funnily enough, it was Aerith who sold the flower to him. And that was before he introduced me to her.

[ Susato glances at the starflower, which had always been there, but seems to glow a little more brightly to call their attention. She knows Tifa and Aerith are close friends from before her time, but she had no idea the lilies had any significance to her as well.

In the end, she winds up chuckling at the coincidence. ]

She has a way of changing people's lives. [ That chuckle fades, leaving a grin. ] When she told me that, she gave me one and told me I should follow my heart.

[ She opens her mouth to say something else, but then seems to falter for a moment. ]

[Tifa's brows very, very slowly rise, along with the quirk within the corners of her lips. It's almost a little Aerith, in some ways, this smile. One that's filled with knowing, and a touch of mischief. The girl seems to rub off on her every once in a while.]

She did, did she?

[There's a beat, and that mischief in her expression fades, leaving only warmth behind. She already knows about him and Susato, but she never did ask about the story behind it. But now, she thinks she knows...]

Kazuma?

[ Truly she should be far more embarrassed than she is... but it's Tifa. She still averts her gaze when she hits the proverbial nail on the head. ]

It was... um... the other gift I gave him. On the last day, during the flowerworks.

...along with Mr Meowgi. [ She did tell Tifa about that, at least... ]

[She did. Tifa remembers hearing about the honourable Mister Meowgi, but the flower...]

Was that how it happened?

[It's no secret that there is something special between the two of them, but she never heard the story of how it came to be.]

[ Susato's lips part. She wants to say yes, but in the end, there's just a shy little nod. So, there it is, and now Tifa knows.

It's only fair, she supposes. Tifa told her how she met Eustace, once upon a time. Maybe at the wedding, she or another friend will go a step further and share how they came to be together. ]

He has kept the lily close ever since, upstairs in his room. Months, or even years from now, we will probably still look at it and think of Aerith. But I suppose we will see.

[ It's very much something new they are exploring together, and there is a hopeful tone in her voice when she speaks. But they're not here to speak about them... ]

You're going to be quite busy, aren't you?

Edited (REPETITIVE WORDING) 2022-09-13 00:47 (UTC)

[That's how it tends to go. "We will see". Or at least, that's how it had been for Tifa and Eustace at the start. So many maybes, but they eventually found their stride, and she knows without a doubt that Susato and Kazuma will too.

Those lilies... they have a way of keeping people together.

She wonders if Aerith knows it.

But Tifa's brows shoot up when Susato turns it back around on her.]

Oh... I guess I will be...

[And that reminds her... There was another reason besides just breaking the good news and sharing her happiness with her that Tifa had asked for some of her time.

Her mouth opens like she's about to say something, but it falls shut for a moment as her fingers fiddle with the moon-shaped charm around her neck.]

I mean... I figure you will be too, yeah? What with... [She slowly brings her coy gaze up to meet Susato's.] ...being a bridesmaid and all?

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can probably wrap this!

🎀 done!